Integration of the quality control process into a 4.0 production system

Industry 4.0 has transformed manufacturing systems by introducing new functionalities that improve manufacturing processes' operational efficiency and allow mass customization under intelligent software control. The visible development in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) has made INDUSTRY 4.0 significantly affect the manufacturing industry in all aspects, including logistics to quality control. Manufacturing industries will no longer take quality management tests in a separate metrology segment but instead on the manufacturing line in real-time. Quality control systems have progressed technologically in recent years, especially through laser or optical measurements. However, these systems still suffer from some incompatibilities with production systems 4.0, especially in terms of interoperability and information exchange, which are the guiding design principles for industrialization 4.0 initiatives. Quality control is an important phase of the manufacturing process, and fully integrating it into a production line is a significant challenge for intelligent and autonomous execution. In this paper, a use case regarding quality control and assurance in the production platform 4.0 is described to present how a QC system could be integrated into a manufacturing system and compatible with the industry 4.0 principles. The quality control process is performed by implementing a 3D scanner, the Faro 3D imager Cobalt, and software named PolyWorks-InspectorTM installed on a host computer to which the scanner is also connected. Therefore, this paper presents an application of the concept of quality 4.0 in advanced manufacturing systems.